PHOENIX — As the Giants’ backup quarterbacks, Anthony Wright and Jared Lorenzen are in the odd position of preparing for a Super Bowl that they hope they’ll spend on the sideline.

Wright, the second-string quarterback, would only play if starter Eli Manning gets hurt. Lorenzen, the third-stringer, would only play if both Manning and Wright got hurt. Both quarterbacks may have dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl since childhood, but they don’t want to do it at the expense of a fallen teammate.

But even though neither is expected to set foot on the field at University of Phoenix Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, both have already made a big contribution to the team. And no one talks up their role more than Manning.

“Both Anthony and Jared have done a great job,” Manning said yesterday at the Giants’ team hotel. “They’re committed, they stay after practice to study film and write down the coverages they see, they tell me what they think I should look for, whether it’s something they see on third downs or in the green zone, and on the sidelines they’re helpful with getting me ready and with keeping me loose.”

Wright says he hopes to make some of his biggest contributions to the team simply by talking to Manning on the sidelines during games. Although Wright has less playing experience than Manning, he’s five years older, has been in the NFL five years longer and says he draws on that experience during games, watching the opposing defense when Manning is on the field and then talking to Manning about it on the sideline.

“If Eli checks into a play and it doesn’t work, afterward I’ll tell him possibly we could try this other play, he’ll think about it, and often he’ll go to [offensive coordinator] Kevin Gilbride and tell him we should do it on the next series. If I saw the defense play a coverage that I thought we could exploit, I would tell him, and he would go out and do it.”

As the third-string quarterback, Lorenzen has even less reason than Wright to expect to play on Sunday. Lorenzen began the season as the second-string quarterback and played briefly in each of the Giants’ first two games, but he was moved behind Wright on the depth chart after Week 2 and hasn’t set foot on the field since. Still, Lorenzen says he takes his job this week very seriously, and that he’ll spend all week and game day looking for tendencies in the Patriots’ defense that could give Manning an edge.

“I try not to allow anything to affect the way I prepare, the way I practice,” Lorenzen said. “I’m a coach, in a different way. Throughout the week and on game day, I’m constantly telling him what I see. On the sidelines I’ll watch safeties and linebackers, try to see whatever I can to help him out.”

In addition to working with Manning, Wright and Lorenzen have another job during the runup to the Super Bowl: Pretending to be Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in practice to get the Giants’ defense ready. Lorenzen said that most weeks, he and Wright spend extra time watching film of quarterbacks the Giants will face, but that this week that’s hardly necessary.

“Luckily we don’t have to watch a whole lot of film on Brady because ESPN is constantly showing him and we know the way he plays,” Lorenzen said. “Just from watching him on TV we already know the way he throws, the way he runs the offense, what kind of cadence and all the stuff he does.”

Wright and Lorenzen both said they consider Manning the consummate professional, and both said they were baffled at the criticism Manning has faced, especially during parts of the 2007 season. Lorenzen, who played his college football at Kentucky, played against Manning when he was at Ole Miss and says he always thought Manning was a great talent.

“He is a definite franchise player,” Lorenzen said of Manning. “We came out in the same draft, and when I signed with the Giants [as an undrafted free agent] people asked me why I’d want to go where I’d be backing up the number one overall pick. But I knew what he was about and knew I’d want to play with him.”

Wright said Manning is one of the best listeners he’s ever been around, and he expects to be in Manning’s ear on Super Bowl Sunday.

“He’s very receptive to what I’m saying,” Wright said. “He takes what I say and what Jared says and he’ll go to the coaches with it and go to the receivers with it. Everything I say to try to help Eli, he tries to take it to the field.”

Mr. Smith is a writer for the Web site AOLFanHouse.com.